U.S. patent application number 10/084864 was filed with the patent office on 2003-08-28 for light activated optical parking guide.
Invention is credited to Guetz, William N..
Application Number | 20030160705 10/084864 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27753551 |
Filed Date | 2003-08-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030160705 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Guetz, William N. |
August 28, 2003 |
Light activated optical parking guide
Abstract
A light activated optical parking guide includes a container, a
dark tunnel, a light detector, an electrical level detector, a
power switch and one or more laser pointers. The dark tunnel
couples light from the garage door opener bulb to the light
detector and limits ambient light. The light detector generates an
electrical level which triggers a threshold when the garage door
light bulb goes on. The threshold switch supplies power to one or
more laser pointers, which point to a target on the vehicle
driver's dashboard when vehicle arrives at the desired parking
position, giving both forward-back and left-right alignment.
Inventors: |
Guetz, William N.; (San
Diego, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WILLIAM N. GUETZ
4750 Caroline Drive
San Diego
CA
92115
US
|
Family ID: |
27753551 |
Appl. No.: |
10/084864 |
Filed: |
February 27, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
340/932.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05Y 2900/106 20130101;
E05F 15/668 20150115; B60W 30/06 20130101; B60Q 1/48 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
340/932.2 |
International
Class: |
G08G 001/14 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An optical parking guide which attached to the housing of a
garage door light, said optical parking guide comprising: a dark
tunnel attached to a garage door light housing, and to a light
level detector; said light level detector electrically
communicating with a threshold determination means for controlling
the state of a power switch; said power switch supplies the proper
electrical power to a means for laser light projection; said laser
light projected to a target on a vehicle being moved into a desired
position.
2. The attachment of the level detector of claim 1 to the light
assembly of the garage door opener without disturbing the
electrical system of the garage door opener, said attachment
comprising: a direct contact attachment to the cover of the light
shield of the garage door opener light.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to guiding vehicles into
confined parking spaces. The problem that drivers face when parking
a vehicle has both forward/back and left/right components. The
present invention eases the difficulty of proper vehicle
positioning in order to optimize space utilization.
[0003] 2. Prior Art
[0004] Guidance systems for parking vehicles include hanging balls
that touch the vehicle's windshield, objects mounted on the garage
floor that can be sensed by the driver and many other solutions
which are referenced below. One of the inherent problems with many
of these solutions are that they usually provide only forward/back
feedback and do not provide left/right alignment feedback. Another
common problem is that they sometimes impede the space of the
garage, like the hanging ball gets in the way when the vehicle is
not there. Some other solutions have overly complicated systems for
sensing the presence of a vehicle.
[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,322 teaches a movable vehicle parking
position indicator that moves in conjunction with the garage door.
When the door lifts up, the indicator is lowered and when the door
closes, the indicator retracts.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,681 teaches a parking guide and
signaling device for cars and trucks to assist the driver parking a
vehicle in a designated parking area which includes a housing
section having a window in the front wall thereof which is closed
by a pane of translucent sheet material through which indicia can
be seen clearly when the indicia are illuminated from the rear
surface of the pane by an electrical light with electrical
apparatus within the housing for illuminating the pane and the
housing section having pivotally mounted thereon an actuating lever
biased so that the electrical apparatus is normally "off" but when
the vehicle moves into a designated parking area the electrical
apparatus is turned "on" and an intense beam of light illuminates
the inner surface of the pane.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,157 teaches a visual vehicle parking aid
which includes a plurality of vertically suspended position
indicators to direct a person driving a vehicle into a space when
normal markings are not visible.
[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,997 teaches a method of optical vehicle
positioning by using laser or light emitting diode which is turned
on by control circuitry which uses the reflection of a beam to
determine the presence of a vehicle. The control circuitry can
minimize the likelihood of interception by pedestrians, pet animals
and other moving things.
[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,571 teaches a signaling method for a
vehicle driver to position the vehicle which is triggered by bumper
activated apparatus. The method uses green lights and red lights to
indicated control signals.
[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,357 teaches a method of guiding a
vehicle driver into a desired position by means of reflecting
images through mirrors.
[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,205 teaches a vehicle guidance and
positioning system which uses a laser beam directed over the path
along which a vehicle is to be guided. The laser beam impinges on a
target area located on the vehicle in such a manner that the
impingement of the laser beam on the target is continuously
observable by the vehicle's operator.
[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,376 teaches a laser pointer consisting
of a laser module, a lens, a casing, a battery and a switch.
[0013] U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,395 teaches an optical parking alignment
system which includes at least one projector located on a vehicle
for projecting a respective image forwardly of the vehicle. The
alignment of the vehicle is indicated when each respective image is
in focus. The projector includes either a transparency and an
imaging lens or a hologram and a narrow band of light source.
[0014] U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,087 teaches a method of providing
guidance to a vehicle driver by means of controlling the state of a
light-emitting bulb when a housing intercepts the vehicle to be
parked.
[0015] U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,368 teaches a parking assist device
which is triggered by the engagement of the wheels of a
vehicle.
[0016] U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,907 teaches a sensing and indicating
device which is mounted at a fixed location to determine the
distance between the vehicle and the desired parking location. The
device provides visible or audible information for the driver of
the vehicle to align the vehicle within a desired space or
envelope.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0017] The present invention is generally directed to an optical
parking guide for use with a garage door opener with an automatic
light that goes on when the door begins to open and stays on for a
set period of time thereafter.
[0018] The Applied patent is a laser pointer whose power is
controlled by the light from a garage door opener for use in
parking and otherwise positioning vehicles in a limited space. A
container is mounted on the translucent cover of a garage door
opener light. A dark tunnel is mounted within the container so as
to let light from the garage door opener light pass to a light
level detector and to eliminate ambient light sufficiently enough
to cause a discrete difference in the electrical output of the
light detector when the garage door light is "on" as opposed to
when there is only ambient light. When the electrical threshold is
exceeded, power is switched "on" to one or more laser pointers. The
lasers provide a visible dot which can be used to aligned a vehicle
by comparing the position of the visible dot with a target on the
dashboard of the vehicle, thus providing both left/right alignment
and forward/back alignment. When the garage door light goes "off"
the laser pointers are switched "off."
[0019] In a first separate aspect of the invention the optical
parking guide includes a light sensing element which can determine
garage-door generated light from ambient light and thereby control
the power to a laser pointing device. Other aspects and many of the
attendant advantages will be more readily appreciated as the same
becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed
description.
[0020] The features of the present invention which are believed to
be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended
claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES
[0021] FIG. 1 is a side view drawing of a garage door light
activated optical parking guide for use with a garage door opener
according to the present invention.
[0022] FIG. 2 is a drawing of the light path from the garage door
light bulb to the light detector of FIG. 1 at the exclusion of
sufficient ambient light.
[0023] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the control circuit of the
optical parking guide of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE
INVENTION
[0024] Referring to FIG. 1 a garage door opener 1 includes a motor
unit 2 with a light 3 that goes on when the garage door 4 opens or
closes and stays on for a period of time. The garage door 4 and
opener 1 are attached to rails 5 and garage ceiling 6. When the
opener light 3 goes "on" the sensor assembly 7 switches power to
the one or more laser pointers 9. The laser pointers 9 generate a
light beam column that shows up as a dot on the dashboard 10 of the
vehicle 11. The driver of the vehicle 11 users the difference of
the dot and a target 12 as guidance to provide positioning of the
vehicle 11.
[0025] Referring to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1 the garage
door opener light consists of a light bulb 20 and a translucent
cover 21. Light energy from the light bulb 20 goes through the
cover 21 to the sensor assembly 7 which is mounted directly to the
cover 21 with an adhesive 22 and contains a dark tunnel 23 which
abuts the cover 21 and allows light at the cover 21 end of the
tunnel 23 to pass to the light detector 24 end of the tunnel 23.
The light detector 24 generates a voltage level that is
distinguishably higher when light is emitted from the garage door
opener light bulb 20 than from the unwanted ambient light 30 that
leaks into the cover 21 and into the tunnel 23. The sensor assembly
7 also contains the control circuitry 31 as described in FIG.
3.
[0026] Referring to FIG. 3 in conjunction with FIG. 1 and FIG. 2
the light energy from the tunnel 23 is converted to a voltage by
the light detector 24 which is compared with a reference voltage by
the threshold detector 25 which switches states when the light bulb
20 goes "on." The "on" state of the threshold detector 25 enables
the power switch 26 to supply the proper current and voltage from
the power supply 27 to the one or more laser pointers 28.
[0027] From the foregoing it can be seen that a light activated
optical parking guide for use with a garage door opener has been
described.
[0028] Accordingly it is intended that the foregoing disclosure
shall be considered only as an illustration of the principle of the
present process.
* * * * *